Thunder shopping Maynor to move into the lottery?
There’s always a lot of smoke on draft day. For instance, that the Spurs might trade Tony Parker for a lottery pick. Which is why I wouldn’t get too hot and bothered at word that the Thunder are shopping Eric Maynor to move into the first 14 picks.
Is Thunder point guard Eric Maynor worth a lottery pick? Sources say the Thunder have been quietly gauging interest in Maynor during the past few days in an attempt to move up into the top half of the first round. They’ve spoken to the Kings (No. 7) and Bobcats (No. 9) in particular in the past few days.
Maynor was the 20th pick in the 2009 draft, which was one of the most loaded point guard drafts. With so few quality point guards on the board this year, would a team covet him more than Kemba Walker or Jimmer Fredette?
Who are the Thunder after? Like a lot of teams, it seems they are in hot pursuit of Lithuanian big man Jonas Valanciunas.
If you recall, there was a lot of talk that the Thunder were in heavy conversations with the Pacers involving Maynor last draft day. With Maynor being one of the premier backup point guards in the league and likely starter material, Sam Presti is probably trying to gauge a little value with Maynor. How good do other teams thing he is?
But if the Thunder could give away their backup point guard who sees 10-15 minutes a night for a lottery pick they’re very high on and then use the 24th pick on Reggie Jackson or another backup point guard, it makes a little sense. A lot of teams are high on Valanciunas, the Thunder being one of them I guess.
Where it doesn’t make sense is that the Thunder already have a long-term center in Kendrick Perkins and already have an international project in Tibor Pleiss. Not to mention Byron Mullens and Cole Aldrich. I just don’t see where Valanciunas really fits in to the future of the roster. Unless it’s not Valanciunas they want. (Maybe it’s JIMMER?!?!)
It’s going to be tough to retain Maynor in the future anyway as he’s too good to afford but not good enough to pay. Maybe Presti is trying to get out in front of that issue and shuffle in a new backup to Westbrook.
I think this is more of a smoke rather than fire deal, but something that will make tonight’s draft a bit more interesting for Thunder fans for sure.
